Spotlight on: John Arnold

Today we continue shining a spotlight on anti-pension politicians and activists by turning to the story of John Arnold. Arnold got his start at Enron, where he left with an $8 million golden parachute as the company collapsed, wiping out billions in pension funds. With his Enron millions, Arnold became a Wall Street hedge fund manager and, eventually, a billionaire. Now he has left Wall Street behind to go on a nationwide crusade against public pensions.

John Arnold uses his billions to fund shady interest groups, flawed think tank research, and anti-pension ballot measures around the country. Here are a few highlights of Arnold’s anti-pension crusade:

Phoenix ballot measure: in 2014, John Arnold almost single handedly funded an anti-pension ballot measure in Phoenix, AZ. He spent more than $1 million of his own money, but his ballot measure was soundly defeated by the voters of Phoenix, who chose to support retirement security for their public workers.

The Pew Charitable Trusts: to date, John Arnold has given more than $4 million to Pew’s Public Sector Retirement Systems project to “support” their pension research. While Pew claims to maintain independence and objectivity, Arnold is attempting to use their prestige to give a veneer of credibility to his anti-pension rhetoric.

Josh McGee is John Arnold’s chief lackey. In addition to serving as Vice-President of Public Accountability at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, McGee is a senior fellow at the ultra-conservative Manhattan Institute. McGee recently authored a report on public pensions so deeply flawed that a noted retirement expert called it “meaningless.”

John Arnold has made it his mission to destroy public pensions. His dark money lurks behind many of the attacks on pensions from California to Pennsylvania. To learn more about his campaign, visit: www.truthaboutjohnarnold.com and see who has taken his tainted money in your state. You can also watch this video we created to expose the truth about John Arnold.

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